Make ART, Not WARCRAFT

[greygirlbeast]

Today is the fifteenth anniversary of Elizabeth's suicide. She would be almost forty, had she lived. Yeah, it's a grim way to begin an entry, but it was a grim way to begin a day, and to go to bed last night, and I at least try to tell the truth here. It seems impossible, utterly impossible, that time can have swallowed so much distance between me and that day in 1995. Between me and her. But it has. And I have gone on to have this life. I spent seven years or so doing very little but grieving. And then I found Kathryn, and I began to heal. There will always be a hole where Elizabeth once was. But life continues. Until it doesn't anymore.

---

Yesterday was a good day off. Even if it did begin by having to take Spooky's laptop to the Geek Squad at Best Buy in Warwick (and, so, having to delay a visit by sovay). It'll be two weeks before she gets it back. Neither of us are happy about that, but there you go. Anyway, we figured that as long as we'd driven to Warwick, we might as well drive on to South County. First, we stopped by Spooky's parents' place. Her dad was out, but her mom was home. We picked apples. We missed picking the blueberries this year. Spooky's mother also gave us yellow tomatoes, basil, cucumbers, blueberries, and eggs. Vegetables fresh from the garden, apples fresh from the trees, blueberries fresh from the bushes, and eggs fresh from the butts of the chickens. We visited with Spider the Enormous Cat.

And then we headed farther south, to Moonstone Beach. As I was getting out of the van, four swans (Cygnus sp.) flew by low overhead, honking loudly. I'd never seen flying swans up close before. They were amazing. We walked over the dunes to the beach. There were a few people, but not so many we couldn't find a quiet spot. I sat and watched the waves, wrote in my notebook, and took a few photos. The sun was still high and hot, but the wind was chilly. Spooky spotted an osprey in among the gulls and cormorants, and saw it swoop down to snatch a fish from the sea. About six p.m., we walked back to the van, and headed to Narragansett for dinner.

Unfortunately, there were so many tourists crowding Iggy's, that we had to settle for George's, over in Galilee. Still not bad. We ate fish sandwiches and watched the Block Island Ferry coming and going. Then we headed back to Spooky's parents, to pick up our produce and eggs (which we'd not taken with us to the beach, because we didn't have the cooler). Her dad was home. I wanted to stay the night, there in the cool and quiet, among the trees and chirping insects. But we'd left my meds at home, so back we drove. It must have been close to nine p.m. by the time we got home.

There are photos below, behind the cut.

I had some good rp in Insilico (thank you, Joah), while Spooky painted. Later, we watched three more eps from Season Two of Nip/Tuck. Before bed, I started reading "Madonna Littoralis." I pretty much never read my own stuff after it's in print. But I've been reading The Ammonite Violin & Others (which is now officially almost sold out, by the way), and enjoying it. It's good to see a book in print, and have so few regrets.

And that was yesterday. I get one more day off, today, and then it's back to the word mines. This afternoon, I'll finish a painting, wash my hair, do a little house cleaning, stuff like that.

Please have a look at the eBay auctions. Thanks.

Here are the photos from yesterday:





Writing by the water (view to the west).



Sandy Spooky (she'd been lying in the sand; view to the southeast).



Still experimenting with taking photographs at sand level (view to the south).





View to the west.



The view overhead. A few cirrus clouds.



Spooky's Osprey (Pandion haliaetus).



A clump of knotted wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) on the cobbles and pebbles.



We found a dog collar in the dunes, minus Maggie, its Wisconsinian dog.

All photographs Copyright © 2010 by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Kathryn A. Pollnac

Comments

[amethyst-clan.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing about Elizabeth.

That last picture is begging for a story.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

That last picture is begging for a story.

I was so tempted to take the collar home with us and try to contact the owner...

...but it seemed sort of silly,

[amethyst-clan.livejournal.com]

It doesn't sound silly to me.

I think it was left as a sort of tombstone for Maggie, by her owners, though. That's the thought that immediately came to mind anyway.

ETA: Not a tombstone. A memorial.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I think it was left as a sort of tombstone for Maggie, by her owners, though. That's the thought that immediately came to mind anyway.

Nah. Dog's run on the beach and get in the surf and slips their collars. This was a spot on the fence where people hang lost shoes, flip flops, etc.

[amethyst-clan.livejournal.com]

-laughs- Then I'm in a particularly morbid mood today.